New York Islanders: Loss to Boston Bruins Does Not End Playoff Hopes

The New York Islanders recently lost an important game to the Boston Bruins. Are their playoff hopes done after the loss?

On Saturday night, the New York Islanders lost a big game to the Boston Bruins. With both teams battling for the final wild card spot, this was a crucial head-to-head matchup.

Due to the New York Rangers being far ahead of both teams in the wild card standings, the Islanders and Bruins were battling for the final spot. While the Bruins can still catch the Toronto Maple Leafs in the division, the Islanders don’t have that luxury.

After a big shootout win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night, the Islanders were back at home for the big game. Unfortunately, they were unable to get two points. Jaroslav Halak gave the Islanders a good effort in the win against the Penguins, and it also allowed Thomas Greiss to be fresh against the Bruins. Greiss has played a lot of games the past month and getting him a break was something that the Islanders desperately needed to do.

In the loss to the Bruins, it was mostly a defense game for both teams. Neither team was able to total more than 20 shots on goal, but the Bruins were able to get one more past Greiss. In the 2-1 win, it was Riley Nash who scored both goals for the Bruins. The goals were just the sixth and seventh of the season for Nash, as he isn’t considered to be a scorer.

One of the problems for the Islanders was the inability of their power play unit to convert. The Islanders went zero-for-six on the man advantage, which is certainly poor.

The Islanders now trail the Bruins by two points in the wild card standings with less than 10 games to go. One of the good things for the Islanders is that they do play an extra game compared to the Bruins. However, they would have surely liked to be ahead in the standings after the head-to-head matchup.

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Even though it was a bad loss, it doesn’t end the Islanders’ playoff hopes. The Islanders will need to play well for the rest of the season, but hope is still alive despite the bad loss.